536 



NEW HAMPSHIRE, 



now been condensed within the limits of a single 

 volume of six hundred and seventy-six pages," 

 the constitutions of New Hampshire and of 

 the United States, besides the marginal notes 

 of reference, a glossary of technical words, and 

 a copious index of ninety-five pages included. 

 Hereupon he observes that " laws should not 

 be repealed* nor amendments made more fre- 

 quently than the essential good of the people 

 may demand." 



This was soon brought to a practical test. 

 By the end of the month in which the advice 

 was given, a joint resolution of both Houses 

 repealed the usury law then in force, making it 

 dependent on the will of the parties to agree 

 on a higher rate of interest than the one pre- 

 scribed by law. On July 3d, the Governor re- 

 turned the bill unsigned, and accompanied it 

 with a message declaring the act not justified 

 by any public demand, the great mass of the 

 people being satisfied with the law as it is, and 

 desiring no change. He stated, on the other 

 hand, that such a measure, being clearly in the 

 interest of capitalists and money-lenders, was 

 fraught with danger to private individuals as 

 well as the State, since her creditors would 

 have thence a most plausible occasion to de- 

 mand the payment either of a rate of interest 

 higher than six per cent., or of the principal. 

 This veto, wherein the Governor says that it is 

 the first time in which he must disagree with 

 the legislative body, gave occasion to a hot de- 

 bate in the House of Representatives ; but his 

 reasons seem to have been appreciated by a 

 large majority among the members, since his 

 veto was finally sustained by a vote of 162 yeas 

 against 96 nays, and the usury law stands un- 

 repealed. 



Governor Harriman calls the attention of the 

 Legislature to the state of public instruction 

 in general and the condition of the common 

 schools in particular, deploring that the Nor- 

 mal School and Teachers' Institute, which 

 once existed in the State, had been injudi- 

 ciously abolished. He urges the necessity of 

 reviving it as soon as possible. 



To improve the system of popular education, 

 some effectual measures had been taken by the 

 General Court at its last session, and several 

 changes introduced, the most important of 

 them being the creation of a general superin- 

 tendence of public instruction as an indepen- 

 dent office and a distinct branch among the 

 executive departments. The new superinten- 

 dent, though he had entered upon the duties 

 of his office only a few months before, by the 

 beginning "of June, 1868, submitted his first re- 

 port, which exhibits the present condition of 

 the public school system in New Hampshire, 

 its wants and defects, in detail, and points to 

 the proper means of supplying and correcting 

 them in order to ameliorate and complete 

 the system. The Governor refers the Legis- 

 lature to this report, highly praising it for its 

 fulness and accuracy as well as for the sound- 

 ness and apparent utility of its suggestions. He 



recommends them as worthy of being acted 

 upon and put in execution. The report, contain- 

 ing a summary of statistics in regard to the pub- 

 lic schools, teachers, and pupils in New Hamp- 

 shire, except some ten cities and towns which 

 had made no returns, is as follows: The 

 number of school districts reported are 2,287; 

 decrease for the year, 22 ; number of schools, 

 2,487; number of scholars attending, 77,- 

 138 ; decrease for the year, 709 ; average at- 

 tendance, 52,476 ; decrease for the year, 590 ; 

 number of children between four and four- 

 teen years not attending anywhere, 3,228 ; 

 increase for the year, 414 ; number of male 

 teachers, 477; number of female teachers, 

 2,465; average wages of male teachers per 

 month, $34.64 ; average wages of female teach- 

 ers per month $19.78 ; whole length of sum- 

 mer schools in weeks, 22,292; whole length of 

 winter schools in weeks, 22,241; average length 

 of the schools in weeks, 16| ; estimated value 

 of school-houses and lots, $1,130,698; increase 

 fortheyeai^ $133,865; estimated value of school 

 apparatus, $13,327; number of unfit school- 

 houses, 427 ; decrease for the year, 55 ; expen- 

 ditures in building and repairing school-houses, 

 $86,192 ; increase for the year, $10,226 ; com- 

 pensation paid school-committees, $10,246 ; 

 increase for the year, $395 ; number of volumes 

 in libraries reported, 55,079 ; amount raised by 

 tax for support of schools, $282,606.58; in- 

 crease for the year, $39,890.62; amount raised 

 by tax beyond what the law requires, $66,528; 

 increase for the year, $8,010 ; amount contrib- 

 uted in board, etc., to prolong the schools, 

 $24,599.41 ; increase for the year, $4,596.92 ; 

 total amount expended for schools, exclusive 

 of school-committees' compensation, $333,- 

 465.62 ; increase for the year, $43,158 ; average 

 amount to each scholar, $3.69 ; number of vis- 

 its of school-committees, 11,804; number of 

 visits of prudential committees, 2,518. 



For the promotion of agriculture and the 

 mechanic arts in New Hampshire, the Fed- 

 eral Government, by act of Congress, dated 

 July 2, 1862, donated to the State 150,000 

 acres of the public lands, or their equivalent 

 in scrip. Governor Harriman informs the Le- 

 gislature that the scrip was sold for $80,000, 

 and that, in compliance with the require- 

 ments of the grant, an Agricultural College, 

 embracing instruction in the mechanic arts, 

 has been established at Hanover, in connec- 

 tion with Dartmouth College. As appears 

 from its programme, published in August, 1868, 

 this new "institution will be open for the re- 

 ception of students on the 4th of September > 

 next. The course of study covers thre'e years, 

 with two terms a year, answering to the fall 

 and spring terms of the Dartmouth College. 

 The fall term is from the 4th of September to 

 the 26th of November ; the spring term from 

 the 8th of January to the 18th of April. Op- 

 portunity is thus given the students to spend 

 the summer months at home, and, if they 

 please, in such agricultural or mechanical em- 



